SNOW HILL — Greene County’s 15th annual Relay for Life event starts today at 5 p.m., beginning with the Torch of Hope Run at the courthouse.

The event, celebrating cancer survivors and remembering those lost to the disease, continues at the James Fulghum Athletic Complex at 6 p.m. with a welcome, lighting of the torch and cancer survivors’ first lap.

There will be 18 teams participating this year. Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society.

This year’s event, organized by Vangie Vandiford and Julie Sutton, is locally themed “Strike out Cancer.”

“It’s amazing how families, friends, co-workers, business and community leaders, children, and grandparents,” Vandiford and Sutton wrote in their welcome message, “are all here for the same reason: to put an end to cancer, the disease that never sleeps.”

Participants can walk around the track anytime through the night until the closing of the event at noon on Saturday.

Ten team campsites will be selling goodies, such as fish stew, pork tenderloin sandwiches, barbecue, turkey legs, homemade strawberry ice-cream and other goodies.

Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.